Heretofore many attempts have been made to provide molded contoured plastic chairs to achieve an outer aesthetically pleasing appearance while nevertheless providing for the essential rigid structure required to accommodate and support the user. Included among such attempts were chairs utilizing molded contoured seating units with a plastic reinforcing mesh secured thereto. Another attempt involved the provision of a chair in which one completely load bearing shell is first molded as one piece and then cut into two portions. Each of the portions is separately upholstered and thereafer the shells are joined together in a manner to conceal the upholstery connections.
Still another attempt to provide such a molded contoured chair structure involved the provision of two shells joined together with the front shell being a load bearing relatively thick structural supporting member and the rear shell being merely trim to conceal the various irregular and unsightly elements required to attach the upholstery to the chair.
While the foregoing attempts have provided some results, the load bearing characteristics thereof are attained only by utilizing expensive relatively thick load bearing high-impact plastic material for the supporting shell. The rigidity and safety of such plastic chairs has been, at times, questionable.
In addition, the expense involved in connection with the utilization of thick load supporting plastic material such as polystyrene of sufficient structural strength has been an important economic factor.